 | Arrested Development: Encyclopedia II - Arrested Development - Plot synopsis
Arrested Development - Plot synopsis
Arrested Development - First season
George Bluth Sr., while retiring as CEO of the Bluth Company, is arrested by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for defrauding customers and gross spending of the company's money for "personal expenses". His wife Lucille becomes CEO, and immediately names as the new president her youngest son Buster, who proves ill equipped. Seeing no other options, the family turns to Michael, the middle son, giving him control of the company. To keep the family together, Michael convinces his son and twin sister Lindsay's family to live together in a Bluth model home.
Throughout the first season, different characters struggle to change their identities. Buster works to escape from his mother's control through brotherly bonding and love interests such as Lucille Austero. George Michael nurses a forbidden crush on his cousin Maeby, while continually trying to meet his father's expectations. Lindsay's husband Tobias, a psychiatrist whose license has been revoked, searches for work as an actor, with the aid of Carl Weathers. Michael falls in love with his older brother GOB's neglected girlfriend Marta, and is torn between being with her and putting "family first". After he quarrels with GOB, Marta realizes that they do not share the same family values, and she leaves them both. Later, through an escalating series of dares, GOB gets married to a woman he knew for only one night, but cannot get an annulment because he refuses to admit that he did not consummate the marriage. Kitty, George Sr.'s former assistant, tries to blackmail the company, and survives the explosion of a yacht used in one of GOB's magic acts. After previous failed attempts, and a stint with Judaism, George Sr. finally escapes from prison by faking a heart attack. It is also revealed that George committed "light treason" by using the company to build mini-palaces for Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
Arrested Development - Second season
Because of his father's latest lie about a heart attack, Michael decides to leave his family and company behind. Lucille appoints GOB to be the new Bluth Company president, but he proves incapable and the position reverts back to Michael. George Sr.'s twin brother Oscar moves in with Lucille in an attempt to rekindle a previous love affair. After faking his death in Mexico, George Sr. returns to the family model home, where he hides in the attic. Meanwhile, Buster joins the Army, but escapes serving in Iraq when his hand is bitten off by a loose seal. He bonds with his uncle Oscar, who is revealed as Buster's presumptive biological father. George Michael begins dating a deeply religious girl, Ann Veal; his father does not like her, and tries to disrupt their relationship. Michael fails to break them up, but George Michael sees a chance for his crush on Maeby to bear fruit, and the pair kiss while the living room of the model home collapses under them.
Maeby becomes a film studio executive covertly, and Tobias repeatedly paints himself blue in a futile attempt to join the Blue Man Group. Throughout the season, various blue paint marks can be seen around the family's house and on the back of Tobias's neck when not in full makeup. After being kicked out of the house by Lindsay, Tobias dresses up as "Mrs. Featherbottom" to be around Maeby and prove to the family that he is a good actor. This is an explicitly-narrated reference to Mrs. Doubtfire. Although it is obvious to the whole family that Tobias is in disguise, they enjoy using him to clean up after themselves. Kitty returns to steal a sample of George Sr.'s semen to make her own Bluth baby. George Sr., in revenge for twin brother Oscar's affair with his wife, exchanges appearances with an unconscious Oscar, who is mistakenly sent to prison in the place of George Sr., who flees again.
Arrested Development - Third season
In the third season, Michael once again begins searching for his runaway father. GOB gets an invitation to a father/son reunion outing, and believes it to be George Sr. trying to contact him. In reality, the invitation was meant to reunite GOB with Steve Holt, son of Eve Holt, one of GOB's former loves. Meanwhile, George Michael and Maeby deal with their previous kiss by avoiding each other. Maeby becomes more interested in her former crush, Steve Holt, who, unbeknownst to her, is also her cousin.
George Sr., in an attempt to remain in disguise, joined the Blue Man Group. Michael discovers this, and arranges to have his father placed under house arrest. George Sr. claims that he was set up by an underground British group. Michael goes to Wee Britain, a fictional British-themed city district, to investigate, and in the process meets new love interest Rita (Charlize Theron). Michael and the audience are led to believe that Rita is a mole for the underground British group, working for a man named "Mr. F". In particular, the camera-work and character movements are used to suggest that her various unusual hats are actually hidden cameras or microphones. The true mole, Tobias Fünke, thought he was acting a part by dressing up as a mole. In the end of the episode titled "Mr. F", it is revealed that Rita is actually an MRF, or "mentally retarded female". The unknowing Michael proposes to her, and the couple run off to be wed. Michael eventually finds out the truth, however, and the two decide to end their relationship just as they are about to head down the altar. This was despite the best efforts of George Sr. and Lucille, who learned earlier that, in addition to being an MRF, Rita was also the incredibly rich owner of Wee Britain.
After Michael and Rita's breakup, Lindsay and Tobias' marriage has become so dysfunctional that Tobias hires attorney Bob Loblaw (who is also the webmaster of the Bob Loblaw Law Blog), and Lindsay hires Loblaw's former protege to work out their divorce. Maeby's career has advanced even further with Lucille's plastic surgery.
In light of FOX's possible cancellation of the show, the first episode of 2006 parodied various gimmicks that other shows had used during November sweeps in 2005. These included scenes filmed in 3-D (Medium), live episodes (Will & Grace, The West Wing), the heavily trumpeted possibility of a major character dying (Lost, Las Vegas), the excessive emphasis on the word "desperate" and "housewife" (Desperate Housewives), and an (over)abundance of guest stars. Thinly-veiled allusions were made to the possibility of HBO or Showtime picking the show up in the event of its cancellation. The episode took shots at frequently cited reasons for the show's failure in the ratings, such as complex storylines that are hard to follow, obscure references that may go over viewers' heads, and unlikeable, unrelatable main characters. The narrator (Ron Howard) also pleaded viewers to tell their friends about the show.
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